Both the French Prime Minister and his Energy Secretary have been asked to intervene in the increasingly bitter dispute between Renault steel supplier Fonderie du Poitou Aluminium (FPA) and its striking unions.

Tension is escalating with the CFE-CGC union now entering a fifth week of industrial action in protest at what it claims is a request to slash wages by 15% in a bid to bring the FPA in line with owners Montupet’s other French sites.

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“We have asked for a meeting with the national association – the Prime Minister [Francois Fillon] and the Minister of Industry [Eric Besson] are now studying our dossier,” CFE-CGC spokesman Alex Jamain told just-auto from Poitou

“We are still on strike – now we are in the fifth week. The management has stopped the furnaces and now we are in negotiations.”

An acrimonious war of words has broken out in France with Montupet management insisting in the media it had emptied furnaces during the weekend for safety issues.

The argument has been lent a huge amount of extra spice by looming French Presidential elections next year – with candidate Segolene Royale who is also president of the Poitou-Charentes region in which the foundry is situated – taking an active part in the seemingly intractable stand-off.

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The foundry mainly produces engine cylinder heads for Renault, BMW, Citroen and Peugeot among others, with Renault appearing to be by far the largest vehicle manufacturer that FDP supplies.

The CFE-CGC is furious at what it says is the proposal by FDP to slash wages by 15% and weekly hours from 39h to 35h – a move it says is an effective additional 8% reduction.